


#15 Requiem, conclusion

by gpadow



Category: Gunsmoke, Matt/Kitty
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-20
Updated: 2011-09-20
Packaged: 2017-10-23 21:53:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/255407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gpadow/pseuds/gpadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>psycho killer</p>
            </blockquote>





	#15 Requiem, conclusion

**Author's Note:**

> This story respectfully features characters and canon from the television series, Gunsmoke, which aired in 1955. They do not belong to me.

Requiem - part II

Feb. 2nd, 2010 at 2:45 PM

 

He sat at the window overlooking Front Street, holding the leather portfolio close to his body, as he rocked back and forth to the melody in his head.

Black, movement one. Blond, movement two. He was almost ready.

All I need is the redhead.

 

###  
"Will you be wanting a bustle for this, Kitty?"

"No, let's keep it simple, Anna."

Anna Finney was on her knees pinning the hem of a navy blue skirt that was part of an outfit she was making for Kitty Russell, one her best customers.

"I think the jacket will be perfect now. Once I make the pattern it will be easy to repeat it in other colors and materials," the dressmaker said, as she stood back to assess her work.

"Well, if it turns out as nice as the one you made for the social I'll probably order more," Kitty smiled.

"It makes me sad to think of the dresses I made for Bessie Bright and Inger Swenson. They were so excited to be getting fancy outfits for the social, and now, well.."

Kitty placed a hand on Anna's shoulder and looked intently at the young woman.  
"When did you see them last?"

"Bessie was here just before that awful storm came through. I remember thinking we finished later than we planned and I hoped she would get home to her father before it got too bad."

"And Inger?"

"Two days later, I think."

"Anna, did you notice anyone hanging around here or anyone who seemed interested in the girls?"

"No, Kitty. I tried to think of something when I heard about the search party. I would have told the Marshal if I saw anything, I promise."

"I'm sure you would Anna," Kitty said with a touch of sadness in her voice.

"It's not good, is it?" Anna asked.

"No, I'm afraid it's not good at all."

The bell above the shop door sounded and Anna left the fitting room while Kitty changed clothes.  
She could hear a man's voice, but couldn't make out their conversation, although it sounded friendly.

Finally, Kitty stepped out into the shop as Anna smiled and said, "Oh, grandfather, I'd like you to meet Miss Russell."

Kitty smiled as the man turned around and tipped his hat with a deformed hand.

"Kitty, remember I mentioned my grandfather would be visiting from Baltimore? This is Morgan Finney."

"Of course. Welcome to Dodge City, Mr. Finney."

The strange looking man made Kitty uncomfortable as he stared at her until his eyes appeared to glaze over.

"Well, I have to get back to the Long Branch."

As Kitty took a step forward, Finney's forearm blocked her path. She instinctively made a fist as her body tensed.

Anna looked alarmed.

"You have beautiful ... blue eyes, Miss Russell. I'm sorry if I stared. Please forgive me."

"Well, uh, nice to meet you, Mr. Finney. Goodbye, Anna," Kitty said, as she made a hasty retreat.

 

###

Kitty stood over the piano player and placed the paper in front of him one more time.

"Fred, are you sure? Try it again."

"I'm telling you, Miss Kitty, these notes don't make up any piece of music I ever heard. It's just GAD, EAD."

"All right, see you tonight, Fred."

Kitty hit the white keys, repeating the notes over and over, when she suddenly stopped to take in a deep breath.

Oh my God. It's not the music, it's the notes.  
I have to find Matt right away.

Kitty started across the room when Anna appeared at the batwing doors carrying the outfit carefully over her arm. She smiled and came into the saloon, blushing as she felt the eyes of several cowboys following her movements.

"Finished already?"

"I think so, Kitty. And I hope you'll be pleased. I think it's one of my best designs."

Kitty led Anna to a seat at one of the back tables. She wanted to give Anna the final payment. No time to try on the garment now.

Then she saw it: in Anna's hand was some measurements and comments written on a piece of paper. On the other side, there were lines with six musical notes.

"Is your grandfather enjoying his stay?"

"I guess so. He stays in the room above the shop rather than at the boarding house with me or at a hotel, and during the day he is out at the small farm he bought south of town. I'm afraid he isn't very sociable."

Anna put her head down and softly added, "You see, he has been away for a long time. Not well, I'm afraid."

"I understand, Kitty said.  
Maybe after he's had a chance to settle in he'll feel more at home here. What did he do in Baltimore?"

"My father told me that many years ago his father was a concert pianist and composer."

Kitty felt a chill down her spine.

"He was a professor at the Peabody Conservatory, Anna continued.  
That is, until he had a terrible accident that crippled his hand. After that, he just was never the same person."

"How long has it been since you've seen him?"

"Oh, I never knew him, Kitty. My father wrote and even visited, but would never let me meet my grandfather. It was only after my father died that I started to correspond with him. He was so curious about everything in Dodge, especially Doc Adams."

Kitty tried to stay calm.  
She smiled at the young woman sitting beside her and asked, "He was interested in Doc?"

"I guess because he went to Johns Hopkins. But, you know Kitty, the strange thing is that I haven't been able to get grandfather to meet Doc in person."

"Has he taken you out to see his property?"

"He said he's waiting to have it fixed up real nice. It's the old Ford place, and I guess it needs a lot of work, being abandoned for so long."

Kitty suddenly stood up and said, "Anna, I just remembered something I have to do right away. Can I pay you tomorrow?"

"Why of course, but don't you want to try on the.."

"I'm sure it's perfect," Kitty said as she practically pushed the confused young woman out the door.

Kitty rushed to the bar and said, "Sam, when Matt comes back from Ft. Dodge tell him I need to see him right away. It's very important! I'm going over to Doc's."

Before Sam could say anything, Kitty was out the door and running to Doc's office.  
In her hand was the sheet music and the awful message she knew it revealed.

 

###

Doc Adams folded his spectacles and returned them to the metal case in the pocket of his jacket. He had just walked back to his desk to close the medical journal he'd been reading when Kitty entered the office without a knock.

"Kitty, you're all out of breath. To what do I owe the pleasure.."

"Morgan Finney," Kitty interrupted.

Kitty waited for her old friend's reaction. She saw the pained look on his face as he held the arms of the chair to steady himself before he took a seat.

After a moment, Doc looked up at her and said, "No. Dear God, not him."

Kitty placed the sheet music on the desk and began to write on it as she spoke out loud.

"C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C, and so forth. Just music keys we thought."

"But Doc, this is what he composed: G,A,D,E,A,D."  
"The message isn't a song, it's literally 'G.A. Dead'."

"You, Doc."

"Where did you hear about Morgan Finney, Kitty?"

"Anna Finney is his granddaughter. She told me he bought the old Ford place. Matt needs to get out there, Doc. I have a terrible feeling that the missing girls .."

Kitty put her hand on Doc's shoulder. He suddenly seemed older and very frail to her.

She lowered her voice and asked, "Why does he want to kill you, Doc?"

"I thought this was over long ago, Kitty. I didn't even know he was still alive."

Doc stood up and pulled a book from the small bookshelf against the wall. He opened it, and then handed Kitty some yellowed newspaper clippings. Physician Solves Requiem Murders.  
Kitty read over some of the articles, and then looked up at her dear friend.

"Oh, Doc."

"Three beautiful young women, Kitty. I'll never forget the sight of their bodies propped up at the piano as if they were about to sing. Two were conservatory students and one was a teacher - and my fiancee."

Kitty's blue eyes widened and she wanted to say something, but no words came.

"Before they bled to death, he smashed their right hands and cut off two of their fingers. Then he cut their wrists."

Kitty shivered.

"Finney composed a requiem mass, Doc continued. He left the sheet music on the piano.

I should have known, Kitty. I should have realized right away."

"How could you, Doc. It was so long ago. It may be too late for Bessie and Inger, but at least we know he is here to take revenge on you for helping to put him away."

"That's not why he wants me dead, Kitty.

I'm the one who amputated his fingers after the accident that crippled his right hand."

###

"Set yourself down you ol scudder, we're a waitin' right here for Matthew ta get back," Festus said, waving his arm at Doc.

"By thunder, I can't hang around here drinking. I'm going back to my office!" Doc declared.

"Have coffee then, but you ain't leavin' this here saloon, I can guarantee ya."

"Here's the Marshal, now," Sam said, as Matt Dillon stopped at the batwing doors to look around the room.

He glanced at Sam and the barkeep tipped his head in the direction of Kitty's rooms.

"Howdy, Matthew! How did things go up Ft. Dodge?"

"Never mind that!" Doc exclaimed.

"Matt, Kitty figured out who took those girls. I'm afraid it's too late for them, but it just may be that he's fixing to kill me, too."

"You?  
Now hold on, Doc.."

"Ask Kitty, she'll tell you. But, Matt, you've got to get out to the old Ford place right away."

"Festus, will you get me a fresh horse, and saddle up Ruth, too. I'm going see Kitty then meet you out front."

"I'll do er, Matthew."

"Better bring my buggy, too, Festus. You may need me out there."

"Sure thing, Doc."

Matt didn't protest. He started up the stairs to Kitty's rooms as Doc moved to the bar.  
Sam placed a drink in front of him.

After a couple minutes Matt called from the balcony, "Sam, is Kitty in her office?"

"Why no, Marshal. She should be upstairs. But I'll have a look."

Matt returned to her room as Doc walked to the bottom of the stairs. He had a bad feeling that got worse when Matt reappeared, and then started down the steps with something in his hand.

"She's not back there, Marshal," Sam called out.

"I know, Sam, Matt whispered.

He has her, Doc."

Matt's long fingers opened to reveal a hairbrush wrapped in sheet music.

 

###

"You go around to the right, Festus. Doc, you stay right here and take cover if you hear any shooting."

The lawman and deputy carefully approached the cabin. As they got closer, they were aware of a terrible smell, and they could hear the strange sound of someone humming.

Matt waited until Festus made his way around the back, and then looked through the window.

The smell almost made him gag, but the sight terrified him.

Morgan Finney held Kitty in his grasp and had his face up against hers, humming in her ear as she struggled to turn away from him.  
There was blood on her white blouse.  
Her hands were tied to a rope stretched across an old piano. The dead bodies of two women were draped across the piano, tied in the same fashion.  
There was dried blood all over their hands.

"Where's your groom, lovely Caroline," the madman sung as his crippled hand fondled Kitty's body. She fought against his weight, as he pinned her up against the piano.  
A long knife was in his other hand moving through her tangled hair.

"Matt Dillon knows who you are, Finney! Kitty cried. Galen Adams told him all about Baltimore."

At the sound of Doc's name Finney stood upright and let out a primeval scream.

The cabin door was suddenly kicked in and Matt Dillon stood in the doorway with his gun drawn.

"Finney!" Matt shouted as he was about to fire.

Finney pulled Kitty's head back by her hair and put the knife to her throat.  
Matt could see she had several small cuts on her face and body.

"Shoot him Matt," Kitty managed to say.

"I'm here. You can let Caroline go now," Doc's voice was heard from behind the Marshal.

"Step in where I can see you!"

Matt reached out to grab Doc's arm but the old physician waved him off and stood before the murderer.

"It ends here, Finney."

Finney pushed Kitty's face down hard against the piano and lunged at Doc with the dagger poised to strike.

The small cabin seemed to explode in deafening gunfire as both Matt and Festus shot Morgan Finney, and he fell at Doc's feet.

Matt quickly grabbed the knife from the dead man's hand and went to Kitty.

He held his battered lady up while leaning across her to cut the rope and free her hands. Kitty let herself go limp in Matt's arms and buried her face against his chest.

Doc walked over and placed a hand on Kitty's back.

"Take her outside, Matt. Take her out of this place."

 

###

"Ouch!"

Matt dabbed Kitty's shoulder with a cloth and said, "I'm sorry, honey.  
I know this stings, but Doc said we have to keep these cuts clean."

"Alcohol is meant for drinking," Kitty pouted.

"I don't think this kind is," Matt grinned.

He was very much aware of Kitty's naked body under the bright white sheet she held up to barely cover the areola of her breasts.

Matt put the cloth on the bedside table and began covering her shoulder and neck with soft kisses.

"Matt?"

"Hum?"

"Has Doc talked to you about what happened?"

Matt stretched his long frame down the bed and gently put his arms around the beautiful redhead he came so close to losing.

"Doc will talk when he's ready. I don't think we should push him, Kitty.

Did you see how strong he was for Jode and the Swensons, Matt continued.  
That had to be very hard for him."

"I'm talking about Baltimore, Matt. Has Doc ever mentioned Caroline to you?"

"No."

"I hate to think of him all alone."

"Doc has us. We're his family. And all the people who depend on him. He has the love and respect of everyone," Matt said, trying to comfort her.

He kissed her forehead and caressed her through the sheet.

"I know, but it's not the same. I wish he had what we have together."

"I never forget how lucky I am to have you, Kitty. Never."

Matt wrapped his arms tightly around her, pushing the sheet down to pull her into a deep kiss.

"Ow. Cuts, remember?"

"Did I hurt you?"

"Your clothes do. I think it's time you get out of them, Cowboy."

 

###

Galen Adams sat on the landing at the top of the steps leading to his office.  
He looked up at the full moon, then opened the small leather frame and smiled at the photo and lock of red hair.

"Well, Carrie, the Johnsons have another beautiful baby girl. That makes three. I know I'll be back there next year 'cause you know they're going to keep trying for a boy.

And, guess what, three people paid me this week. Not in chickens! How 'bout that.

Well, time for me to turn in, sweetheart.

Matt and Kitty are safe and taking care of each other.

Tomorrow I may tell them about us. I think it's time to share."

Doc folded the leather frame over the photo and lock of red hair, pulled his hand over his mustache, and winked good night to the full moon.

 

The End


End file.
